After a night of intense bombing in the Stripincommunicado for hours, the Israeli Army confirmed that has completed the siege of Gaza City and has completely isolated the northern region of the territory. “As of today there is a north of Gaza and a south of Gaza,” said Daniel Hagari, an army spokesman.
Troops are expected to enter the city on Monday or Tuesday, Israeli media speculate, with a street to street operation against Hamas militants. The troops are located a few kilometers from the Al Shifa hospital, in the ground of which there are supposedly tunnels of militants of Hamas, according to the Israeli Army. During Sunday, Tel Aviv gave a few hours of pause to the more than 400,000 Palestinians who are in the northern region of the Strip, to move towards the south.
However, the attacks in central and southern Gaza again dissuaded the population from taking refuge in other areas. The Israeli Army has killed 9,700 Palestinians in the last month, according to the Gazan Ministry of Health. In the last 24 hours it has bombed three refugee camps located in the north of the Strip, also hitting a United Nations school. The organization has reported that in the last month 88 of its workers have died due to attacks by the Israeli Army. This is the “highest number” of UN workers killed ever recorded in a single conflict.
Last night there were also raids in the occupied West Bank, with more than 50 detainees, including an advisor to the Palestinian Authority – which governs the West Bank – and the activist Ahed Tamimi. “Tamimi was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence and terrorist activities in the town of Nabi Salih,” near the city of Ramallah, the military said. Tamimi became known in 2012, when she was just 11 years old, for confronting an Israeli soldier in defense of her brother. In 2017 she was arrested for the first time, when she was seventeen, for slapping two Israeli soldiers.
On the other hand, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterated his refusal of a ceasefire until Hamas releases all the hostages. Tel Aviv has not even given in to the requests of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza. Hundreds of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem on Saturday to call for his resignation.